Truth and Revelations
by C.L. Forest
Summary: As Chihiro continues to grow up, she looks at her childhood dreams in a more realistic manner. She realizes that she is only a human. A speck in their lives. Her entire lifetime would pass like a minute to the Spirit World. One shot
1. Chapter 1

Chihiro can daydream about them all day, wondering if they are doing the same.

Bold strokes flew onto her sketch book with firm hands. A beautiful scenery of a vast meadow with a river flowing in-between. A lovely bathhouse with smoke coming up the chimney. Strange figurines such as a multi-limbed man, a witch with an oversized head, and a silvery white dragon filled up the blank sheet of paper in her hands.

Yes, Chihiro will continue to wonder about them. Thinking, dreaming, waiting.

She expects something to happen. Anything. Some sign that she made a mark on that world. Some sign that it still exists.

It never comes.

And as Chihiro continues to grow up, she looks at her childhood dreams in a more realistic manner. She realizes that she is only a human. A speck in their lives. Her entire lifetime would pass like a minute to the Spirit World. She imagines that Haku would only have seen her as a face you meet, and greet then never see again.

And Chihiro's hypothesis is actually true. In the other side—the Spirit World—no one remembers much about Chihiro. Lin and Yubaba may have the slightest memory of her but she doesn't really stand out. When mentioned, they would just nod, give a comment and move on. As for Haku, he remembers her a little more because she is of course, the one who set him free in the first place, but Chihiro only stands out to him as a distant friend—someone who has once stood out in his memory but has faded beneath more pressuring things.

And it upsets Chihiro to think like that. It upsets her because it is true. So Chihiro has decided that she will not think of such things.

From then one, she only thought of the great things. She would daydream about conversations with her spirit friends she'll never have. She doesn't care if they aren't true. She'd rather be clouded with happy delusions than to see the horrible truth.

Anything but the truth.


	2. Chapter 2

**In a moment of inspiration I decided to add just 1 more chapter to this story.**

**Read and enjoy!**

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><p>A Memory and its Timeline<p>

His mane glittered in the sky. His body was so lithe. He moved with such grace and agility—scales sparkling in the night.

Chihiro's memory was so vivid compared to her ratty and messy drawing. She just couldn't get it right. She tried numerous times but each sketch ended up being furiously erased.

As she started to erase the sketch she has just recently drawn, then came the strict clipped voice of her teacher. "Chihiro! And just what do you think you're doing?"

Chihiro looked up to find a tall figure with a thin face and hard features looking back at her.

"Ah! Sensei…uh—"

But before Chihiro could even finish the teacher snatched her sketchbook from Chihiro's grasp.

The teacher—Sensei Sato—adjusted her glasses and flipped through the pages.

Worry started to etch itself into the sensei's cold hard features. Shoving the sketchbook back at Chihiro she said, "You need to see the principal."

This took place in 6th grade roughly one year after her Spirit World adventure.

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><p>"Yeah, I'll call you later, Midori"<p>

Chihiro smiled as she put the receiver down. Immediately after doing so she reached under her desk to bring out a worn and old sketchbook. She slowly flipped the pages as memories surged through her once more. She somehow found peace in her doodles. Now it was the only way to bring the memories back. Her memories that were once so vivid were now fading. She tried to hold on to them but time swept them away. It was only in her drawings did she remember.

This took place in the 8th grade. Roughly three years after her Spirit World Adventure.

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><p>"I said no, okay? So leave me alone."<p>

"Aw, c'mon Chihiro! Don't be like that! It'll be fun."

Chihiro sighed. "But it'll be weird. I'll be the odd one out again. Like a third wheel."

"Please Chihiro?" Midori pleaded.

Chihiro let out a deep breath and finally said with a sigh, "Fine, but you buy me food."

Midori squealed. "I'll see you tomorrow then!" The line went blank.

Chihiro sighed once more but this time, that of frustration. Midori's new boyfriend was infuriating. He was a stuck up, selfish, no good jerk. Or maybe that's just from Chihiro's perspective. Maybe she thought negatively of him because she was jealous-jealous of the fact that she was losing her best friend.  
>It was true. Ever since that idiot of a boy came up, Midori has been spending more and more time with him and less with Chihiro. And seeing that Midori was Chihiro's only friend, it was infuriating.<p>

To say it simply, Chihiro was lonely and she did _not_ want to tag along in Midori's little 'friendship get-together' which is basically a hang out day wherein Midori and her boyfriend snog while Chihiro sits in the background.

Chihiro was about to call Midori back and cancel the 'friendship get-together' when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye.

It was a sketchbook. It was _her_ sketchbook. The one she brought with her everywhere since 6th grade. She slowly picked it up.

Her sketch book which she kept in the corner for so long was now coated in a thick layer of dust and had its corners ripped off.

Carefully she opened it and flipped the pages.

Dragons, Disproportioned ladies, a witch, an oversized baby, a man with multi limbs—Haku, Bathhouse workers, Yubaba, Bou, Kamaji…the memories overwhelmed her.

Suddenly Chihiro's phone started to ring. She quickly shut the sketchbook and went to pick it up.

In a matter of minutes she forgot about the sketchbook. It lay untouched in a corner.

This took place in her 2nd year of high school, roughly 6 years after her Spirit World Adventure.

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><p>Chihiro had a headache.<p>

Everything she studied the past night was slowly starting to fade away in a moment of panic.

The characters on her questionnaire started to jumble up into nonsense.

The mid-term exam was going horribly.

As she went out of the exam room, she was not filled with relief but rather a painstaking nervousness.

"Hey" said Midori. "How was the exam?"

"Oh, absolutely awful!" Chihiro cried.

"Same here" said Midori with a smile. _How could she afford to smile when we just might fail college? _"Anyways, I'll talk to you later. I have a date with Akemi ("squeal"), See ya!"

Chihiro trudged back to her dorm without being able to get the heavy feeling off her shoulder. The constant possibility of her failing was frightening her. It stood in the corner of her mind and refused to leave.

And ever so conveniently she saw something that took her mind off the mid-term exam. It was a sketchbook. Now, completely worn and dirty. She wondered why she packed it in the first place.

Gingerly, she picked it up. She flipped through the pages quickly, scanning each page at top speed, wanting to get it off her hands immediately.

But each page brought forth a new memory. However, once Chihiro was finished flipping through the pages of her sketchbook she did not feel relief. She did not smile. Chihiro was frustrated.

It was unfair. She cared for the Spirit World, she really did. But wasn't the feeling mutual? Didn't they care for her too? It didn't seem like it.

Chihiro waited for so long-staring out her window, walking by rivers in hopes of seeing any of them. She even tried looking for the tunnel again but failed at every try. She wasn't asking for much. She just wanted a small glance. Just to know that they still exist. That they cared.

Angrily, Chihiro threw her sketchbook out the window. She knew where it would land. Right outside her window was a river. Chihiro threw it out in hopes of no one ever finding it.

Someone found it.

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><p>Epilogue<p>

In the spirit world, probably when Chihiro was around the age 28, Kohaku found her sketchbook. Almost all of it was in soggy bits but one page managed to stay intact. He found it in the river that divided the spirit world and the human world from each other. He was thoroughly amazed at how the one page stayed intact after being submerged in water for so long (good quality paper, perhaps?). Using his powers he removed the excess water from the page, leaving a dry paper with the thinnest outline of lead on it.

Despite being blurred by the prolonged amount underwater, Kohaku was able to make something out. It was a young girl smiling next to a figure that looked strangely like Rin and a dragon that was all too familiar.

Kohaku breathed out one word.

"Chihiro"

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><p><strong>And that is the FINAL ending.<strong>

**I like it this way and I feel that if I added anymore it would ruin the whole thing. But don't worry, I might write other SA fics but this one is finished.**


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